


Birthday

by reclusiveq



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Birthday Presents, Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-15
Updated: 2014-05-15
Packaged: 2018-01-24 22:15:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1618901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reclusiveq/pseuds/reclusiveq
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bucky decides to celebrate Steve's birthday.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Birthday

**Author's Note:**

> For a writing prompt... it's cute and (hopefully) a little funny.

Bucky set the cake on the table and pulled out the candles. It wasn’t a large cake, but it didn’t really need to be. After all, it would just be Steve and him tonight. There would be a larger party for Steve this weekend, but today, Steve was booked up pretty solidly with appearances. Well, what else could they expect? The absolute irony of Captain America being born on Independance Day… Bucky shook his head at the thought.

It was just a plain cake, without much decoration. He’d gotten it as part of a birthday party sale that had been going on. In addition to the cake, he’d received a small package of candles, a large bag of balloons, streamers, and a myriad of other banners and decorations that probably should have been used for a larger party.

The only thing he had had to buy separately had been extra candles. That had been an interesting conversation with the store clerk.

“I need more candles than this. There’s only twelve in this box. He’s not turning twelve.” Bucky had looked at the other candles then, counting.

"How old is your friend turning?" 

"96. Do you have that many candles available? I need them today."

The clerk’s eyes had widened. "Uhm... how about you use these numbered candles instead? Most people prefer..." 

"No, I want 96 candles." Bucky was adamant about that much.

"I don’t think the cake will fit that many," the clerk had said cautiously, clearly uncertain about Bucky’s mental state. It amused Bucky. 

"How about seventy candles? That’s about how many birthdays of his I missed.”

“Maybe if you had a larger cake…”

“No, I don’t want a larger cake. You don’t have a sale on a larger cake. Okay, how many candles can I reasonably fit on the cake?”

In the end, he had ended up with 48 candles all together. He was sticking them carefully into the cake now, making sure to space them so he could fit them all on. He smiled proudly when he was done. “Perfect.” He set the lighter next to it.

Once the cake was done, he sat down and pulled out the package of balloons. There were fifty in there, more than enough to make up for the missing candles. He started blowing them up.

They’d offered to rent him an air pump, but he was working on a budget and Steve’s birthday present had taken most of his month’s paycheck. He’d started working in a garage, and it didn’t pay much, but then again, Bucky didn’t really need much. He owned all of two pairs of jeans, and about five t-shirts, and his assassin gear, which was boxed up in the back of his closet. He didn’t eat all that much, unless Steve made him. And aside from his half of the rent, he had no other major expenses. Things just cost way too much money these days to justify buying them.

So when Steve’s birthday had rolled around, Bucky had decided to splurge a bit. After all, he did have seventy years of birthdays to make up for.

He had to pause in blowing up the balloons when he started to get light-headed. Setting the package aside, he got up and grabbed the streamers. These were fairly new to him, but he had an idea of how to set them up. He glanced around and started wrapping them around everything: chairs, the table legs, the lamps… He strung one between the curtain rod and a shelf. He used a little bit of tape, but mostly just tried to tie the ends up. 

That was an exercise in frustration as the thin paper kept tearing. He blamed it on his metal arm, then on the cheap-ass materials things were made of these days. They used to make things to last. These days, everything seemed to break or tear or just stop working within a few months. He’d learned that the hard way after Steve had brought him a new cellphone to use. He’d been very careful with it, and it still broke a few months after using it.

No, he decided, this wasn’t his fault. It was just shoddy craftsmanship. He had half a mind to march back to the store and demand his money back, but Steve would be home around dinner and there just wasn’t time to run all the way back to the store.

So Bucky did the best he could. By the time he finished, he had a small pile of useless ends that he bagged up, then went back to blowing up the balloons. 

He was just taping the last of the balloons to the ceiling fan, balancing precariously on a stool. Someone knocked, startling him, maybe if he hadn’t been out of breath and light-headed from the balloons, he would have caught himself. Instead, he toppled and hit the floor hard.

Sam and Natasha burst in a second later, Natasha’s gun drawn. “What happened?” Sam spotted Bucky first, glaring up at them from the floor. He laughed. “Did you actually fall?”

“No, I just like laying here,” Bucky answered sarcastically. 

That just elicited another laugh from Sam as he set the bag he was carrying down. Nat holstered her gun and helped Bucky up. “I see you’ve been decorating,” she commented neutrally.

Bucky brightened. “Just put up the last balloon. Don’t know about the streamers. They weren’t very sturdy.”

Sam shook his head as he looked around. “Dude, how many balloons did you put up?”

“Fifty.”

Sam sputtered. “Fifty?”

“What, that’s not enough?”

Sam started laughing harder. Natasha smacked him in the head. “It’s fine, James. I’m sure he’ll love it. Sam and I can’t stay. We just wanted to drop off a couple of cards. I know Tony’s doing the big celebration this weekend, but… we just wanted to hand these over now.”

Sam pointed at the bag. "There's some cards in there from the guys and girls in my class." Bucky knew Steve had spoken there a few times. He'd tried to get Bucky to go too, but Bucky had resisted so far. 

"Tell them thank you for Steve. I'll make sure he gets them."

"Thanks. You know, any time you want to come with him, you're welcome."

"I'll consider it." Bucky's tone said the opposite, but Sam didn't press. 

They left, leaving Bucky alone to stare around at the decorations. Maybe it was too much. His memories of how birthdays should work was hazy, but this felt right, like how it used to be. As for the cake, that was purely a tease on Bucky’s part. 

It wasn’t long before he heard Steve come in the door. Keys jingled and the door opened, then closed. Bucky hurriedly grabbed the lighter and shifted nervously as Steve came around the corner and stopped, staring.

“Bucky, what…”

“Happy birthday. I decorated.”

“I can see that. You did all this yourself?”

Bucky started lighting the candles, smiling. “Yeah. It’s been a while, but I remember how much you liked the decorations before.”

A smile blossomed on Steve’s face too. “You still have the same design sense you used to. But I like it. Thank you.” He turned and looked at the cake, eyes widening. “That’s a lot of candles.”

“Well, if I could have fit 96 on here, I would have.”

“You would have started a fire. Actually, you may still.”

Bucky laughed. “You should have seen the store clerk when I asked her for 96 candles. It was worth it. All right, grandpa. Make a wish.”

Steve blew out the candles easily. Bucky never would have pulled this prank before, not with Steve’s asthma, but now it was easy enough for him to blow them all out. After eating their cake, Bucky brought out Steve’s present. This was the gift that had cost him nearly a month’s paycheck.

He sat down and handed over the oblong package. “You’ve got some cards too, but I want you to open this first.”

Steve smiled, a little unsure, as he opened the package. He clearly had no idea what Bucky would have gotten him. He opened the wrapping paper carefully. Some things never changed. Bucky had vague memories of re-using old wrapping paper, so they could save a penny.

Steve finally got his gift open and his mouth dropped open. Inside was a full set of high end artists supplies: inking pens, pencils, markers. Bucky knew how much Steve liked to draw. It was one of the few things he knew with absolute certainty. So Bucky had asked at the craft store, and the clerk had sold him on this set after demonstrating with it. 

“Bucky, this…. this is amazing.” There were actual tears in his eyes, making Bucky feel proud. “This must have cost a fortune.”

“It was worth it.”

Steve smiled, then reached over and hugged Bucky tightly. “This is the best birthday I’ve had since we were kids. You always knew how to give the best gifts then. Looks like you still do.”

Bucky returned the hug, just as tightly. “I’m glad you like it.”

“It’s perfect.”


End file.
